Improvement in the manufacture of hollow-rubber goods



@anni (dit in.

LYoNs, or New YORK, N. v.

Letters Patent No. 96,020, dated October 19, 1869.

l IMPROVEIVIET IN THE IVIAN'U.ACTU'RE OF HOLLOW-RUBBER GOODS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making partof the same.

To all whom it Amay colwe'm Be it known that I, J. C. LYONS, of New York, in the county of New York, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Manufacture of Certain Rubber Goods; and I do -hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to theaccompanyingdrawings, in which- Figure 1 is a. longitudinal section of my apparatus in operation.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the same.

Figure 3 is a plan of a single section of India-rubber sheet. Y

On the 10th day of September, 1867, Letters Patent were issued to mefor an improvement in fog.- alarms, consisting of a trumpet or whistle, sounded by a current of air under pressure, said compressed air being stored in au expansible air-chamber, made of elastic gum. For this, and other similar purposes, f

chambers made iiom sections of hollow elastic cylinders, have been found to -be unsatisfactory, iu some respects, on account of unequal expansion of said chambers in use and to obviate these objections I have devised the herein-described mode of forming 4chambers of elastic gum, with irregular shapes andA walls of uniform thickness, and the mode of curing rubber for such purposes.

1n the manufacture of hollow India-rubber goods, the exterior formation has been secured by enclosing the India-rubber blank within a metallic mould,.and causing the gum to expand and ll the configurations of the mould by means cf a small quantity of water enclosed within said blank, and converted into steam bythe heat imparted during the vulcauizing-process; or, inA some cases, the expansion of the enclosed air is suicient -for this purpose. l

India-rubber toys and all similar goods are formed in thisway, there being no other known method.

yIt is evident, however, that in such a case the Inateiial will vary in thickness with every variation in its conformation, and this fact will totally unt any chamber so constructed for any use requiring strength to resist internal pressure.

It has therefore become necessary to devise means of forming India-rubber chambers of irregular shapes and uniform thickness of walls.

In my experiments to this end', no material has been found to afford results so satisfactory as dry, sharp sand, enclosed in a canvas bag of proper form.

My invention, therefore, consists- First, in the formation of hollow-rubber ware of irregular forms, and walls of unifolm thickness, upon a collapsible core.

Second, inthe manner of distending said core by means of sharp,.dry sand, or its equivalent.

Third, in the employment of a sand-bath in vulcanizing or curing rubberQf Having now set forth the objects and nature of my invention, I will particularly describe the apparatus which I consider most suitable to effectuate said invention, though I desire it to he distinctly understood that I do not limit myself to the exact details, either of manipulation or apparatus described, as both arel susceptible of much variation, without in any degree changing the results secured.

' A metallic tube, A, forms the nucleus of this apparatus. The canvas bag B, formed in the proper shape, is drawn over said tube, and secured at either end Aby a cord or wire, C, or in some other convenient and ready method. The short pipe D is introduced at o'ne end of the pipe A for a short distance, and is firmly sol-V dered there, its inner end opening into the space E, be`I tween the inner surface of the bag B and the outer surface of the tube A, as shown in iig. 1. l

After the canvas bag B has been placed upon the` tube -,the ferrules F F are slipped over the ends of the bag B, and the wires or binding, (l, are placed upon the extremities of the same, as shown, and sand is poured into the space E, through the pipe I), until said space is filled. A corlror other stopper is then inserted in the end of the pipe I), to prevent any es-y cape of the enclosed sand.

This having been done, the core is ready to receive the raw-rubber covering, which is applied in sheets or blanks, G, cut to pattern, as shown in iig. 2, and particularly in fig. 3. These blanksare cut from sheets .of raw or uncured rubber.- They are laid upon the mould, and their c dges joined by common rubber cement. The whole is then swathed in bandages, H, of-'canvas or other materia-Las shown in figs. l and 2. These bandages are drawn tight, and are laid smooth y vover the whole surface of the blanks. The swathing is properly done in the manner known as surgeon-bandaging, by. which method a single bandage may be laid smoothly over irregular surfaces;

iVhen the bandaging has been completed, the whole is placed in an oven or hotfairchamber, and the temperature raised to the proper degree to effect the vulcanization of the rubber which 'is to form the chamber.

The open pipe A admits the hot air of the oven to the interior of the core, and the sand within the space E thereby becomes heated 'to nearly the same ternperature as the surrounding atmosphere, and the heat is thereby transmitted to the'inner surface of the `rubber shell B, at nearly or quite the same temperature as that which reaches the outer surface of the same through the canvas swathing H.V This is an important consideration in the curing or rubber, because the application of moist heat has an effect different from that of dry heat, and the two surfaces of articles cured in a mould and epanded by steam, have dierent degrees -of elasticity or strength; but with my process of causingr the proper internal pressure by means of the expansion of dry sand, and the application of dry heat by transmission through tLe same substance., the two surfaces have, as nearly as possible, the same qualities, and the strength `and elasticity will be uniform throughout.

1t maybe advisable sometimes to immerse the whole mould in a sand-bath, instead of placing it simplyin arhot-air chamber.

XVhen the vulcanizing-process hasbeen completed,A the clamps O are removed, and the-tube A may then be withdrawn, or the sand may first be discharged through the tube D. When the sand has been disfv charged, the ferrules F may he withdrawn, and the collapsed canvas bag B may be withdrawn from the inside of the chamber. The swathing-bandages being also removed, the process is complete, and an irregular-shaped hollow chamber, with walls of uniform thickness and elastic strength, has been produced, such as cannot be produced by-any other known method.

Having set forth my invention,

'hollow ware, Viz, by placing the raw rubber-blank upon a hollow sand-core, and then swathing the Whole with strips of canvas, or other material, as set forth.

6. Curing of rubber ware by the transmission of heat` through a sand-bath applied to one or more surfaces ofthe same. v

J. G. `LYONS. Witnesses: R. D. O. SMITH, C. F. HARKNEss. 

